THE husband of a British man who died while honeymooning in Australia has recalled the final, heartbreaking words he said to him as he lay by his side.

In an interview with ABC 730, Marco Bulmer-Rizzi told of how he spoke to his husband David who died in hospital after he fell down a set of stairs and cracked his skull at a friend’s place in Adelaide.

The newlywed couple were on their last stop of their holiday together.

Marco said he told David, 32 that he thanked him and played their wedding song to him.

“I was given the chance to lay next to him, and I played the song that was played at our wedding,” he said.

“And I thanked him, for being my husband, for working with me, and making me who I am.

“And I told him that I would do everything we dreamt of together, I won’t shy away from anything that we decided our family was going to be like, and that I would do it for him and with him … and then I kissed his hand goodbye.”

David died in the Royal Adelaide Hospital last Saturday.

Marco and David’s story has made world headlines this week after Marco was told his husband’s death certificate would read “never married”, which affected his ability to authorise decisions surrounding his husband’s funeral.

In love ... Marco and David Bulmer-Rizzi. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

“The important thing for me was the commitment that David and Marco had made to each other. And I knew that both made each other very, very happy. As a dad that’s all you want for your kids. You want your kids to be happy and I knew that, yeah, that was going to do it for them.”

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said the certificate will be changed to remove the description of ‘never married’, and has agreed to push for changes in State Parliament to ensure it doesn’t happen to another couple.

“I felt deeply ashamed that these things happened in South Australia. A man’s just lost someone he loves, his husband, someone he’s legally married to and he’s treated with disrespect in my State, and it caused me to feel very sad and I — I reached out to him and contacted him and offered an apology for what he’d experienced here in South Australia and obviously offered my condolences for his loss,” he told ABC 730.

“We were able to catch the death certificate before it was issued and the offensive description of “never married” won’t be included in the final death certificate.

“It will actually now have an annotation that will refer to the British marriage. So that’s a source of great comfort for him because it was very offensive to have the certificate issued in those terms.

But he conceded it was not a complete solution.

“The UK government is also — has also issued a death certificate, which is unusual. It’s an exceptional circumstance for them to do that for somebody that dies in Australia,” he added.

“But between those two things, it at least improves the situation, and of course, there is a legal issue that we need to remedy and we’re undertaking a review of our legislation to prevent these sorts of things happening to other people,” he said.

Never forgotten ... David Bulmer-Rizzi in Santorini, Greece. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

British High Commissioner to Australia Menna Rawlings thanked Mr Weatherill for his pledge to introduce laws recognising same-sex marriages performed overseas.

After their wedding in the UK, Marcos and David celebrated a second ceremony in Santorini, Greece, before heading to Perth in December and finally to Adelaide.

“When I met David, that was the most important day of my life, but the wedding was … changing, defining, empowering, happy,” Marco said.

Marco and David’s father Nigel have organised for David’s organs to be donated.

Marco collected David’s ashes and will leave Australia tomorrow.

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Thrust into the global spotlight after the tragic death of her wife Kate and then discriminated against by hospital and funeral home staff, Charlene Strong decided to take a stand that forced a rethink in the US about marriage equality.

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